My reply of, “Ohhhhh, better bring in the crime scene investigators!” led to the boys rummaging through our LEGO bin looking for the appropriate mini-figures.

I cracked up when they brought one with shiny sunglasses on!

The boys then spent quite some time “investigating” the suspicious substance and acting out several scenarios with various mini-figures.

Being the person that I am, I totally got into it with the boys! I asked silly questions and helped find Lego characters for their play. It was such fun observing their play and listening to the random crimes they came up with.

A friend jokingly commented that we needed crime scene tape, which led to us rummaging around and finding yellow ribbon.

Under the careful eyes of the boys, I wrote “Police Line! Do Not Cross!” The boys helped me attach the ribbon with some icing, and the scene was complete.

For about a week, our crime scene gingerbread house was played with, rearranged, and visited by all kinds of Lego characters. I lost count of the different scenarios the crime fighters came up with, but they were all rather imaginative!

While this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it was oh so fun for the kiddos! I loved that it was entirely led by the kiddos, and they let me in on the play too.

Definitely an unconventional gingerbread house, but it has left us with a wonderful memory – and Engineer still talks about it.

What kind of gingerbread houses have your kids made? Any a little off-the-wall like ours?

Preschool Gingerbread Lesson Plans

Save time and get right to the learning fun with our printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, book suggestions, and activity explanations. We’ve provided different versions for home preschool families and classroom teachers so all activities are geared directly toward your needs.